How to Get Rid of Anxiety by Focusing on Yourself

Wanting to get rid of anxiety is perfectly reasonable and very normal, but focusing on yourself to do that may not have crossed your mind. When we think of getting rid of anxiety our focus is on that anxiety. It is anxiety that is receiving our attention; unfortunately, what we pay attention to sticks around. It can be empowering and uplifting to shift your attention away from anxiety and onto something much better: you. To get rid of anxiety, focus on yourself.

Anxiety can make life tough. While each person’s experience with anxiety is unique, in general, anxiety can make it hard to interact with others, whether in the workplace, social situations, or making small talk at the store. Anxiety can interfere in our relationships, and it can even make it difficult to get out of bed or leave the house. When we live with anxiety, we feel it from head to toe, inside and out (Anxiety Symptoms: Recognizing Signs of Anxiety). Of course, we want to get rid of anxiety. With a simple shift of attention, you can replace anxiety with a quality life.

Focus on Yourself to Improve Quality of Life

Because anxiety can invade your entire being, focus on all of you. Attend to yourself on every level:

Physical

Behavioral

Emotional

Mental (thoughts)

Interpersonal

Your being, your essence

Make time for yourself, in some way, each day (You Can Practice Self-Care on a Budget). Do something that soothes the effects of anxiety as well as adds pleasure to your day. No matter what part of yourself you are focusing on, remember that the goal is to take your attention away from anxiety and put it on yourself. It’s in focusing on yourself that you ultimately get rid of anxiety.

What It Means to Focus on Yourself

Concentrating on anxiety and what it’s doing to you, while natural, is limiting and narrows your outlook. Broaden your perspective by thinking about your being, the very essence of yourself.

Your essence involves who you are at your core and has nothing to do with anxiety. You are so much more than this one aspect. You have a purpose in life, you have an idea of where you would like to fit and how you would like to be. You have values. You have a sense of greater meaning, whatever that may be to your unique person.

When you focus on yourself to get rid of anxiety, you give yourself permission to explore each of these greater parts of your whole, and you expand in positive ways (Five Signs That You Will Beat Anxiety).

Focusing on Yourself Can Be Easy

Concentrating on you, making time for yourself daily, can take many forms. Among this almost unlimited list:

Laugh. YouTube, Netflix, and other such venues are good sources of humor.

Do something you love every day, even for just a little while.

As you are nurturing your whole being, think in terms of short-term approaches and long-term approaches. Short-term approaches involve enhancing the quality of the moment. Long-term approaches involve enhancing the quality of your whole life. Boosting your happiness and contentment by focusing on yourself is one of the best ways to get rid of anxiety.

Author: Tanya J. Peterson, MS, NCC

Tanya J. Peterson is the author of four critically-acclaimed, award-winning novels about mental health challenges as well as a self-help book on acceptance and commitment therapy. She speaks nationally about mental health, and she has a curriculum for middle and high schools. Find her on her website, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.